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Sahnria
ritos Appearance Sahnria is a slim sin'dorei of medium height. She maintains a highly composed physical appearance, always keeping herself neat and attractive, even on the battlefield. Her demeanor is usually one of reserve and self-possession, though she may readily slip into an easy, cordial manner. She is always ready with friendly conversation and sardonic humor when the situation demands it. Views Philosophical Sahnria applies an attitude of "The Light helps those who help themselves," in most situations, using her charm, self-control, and calculating intellect to maneuver others into helping her get what she wants. Since childhood she has had few close relationships, only allowing others enough emotional intimacy to gain their trust and cooperation. Despite her manipulative tendencies, Sahnria strongly believes herself to be basically good, only doing what she needs to in order to survive and to defend herself in a treacherous and uncertain world. Political Sahnria's only real allegiance is to herself, though she holds a de facto loyalty to the reconstituted government of Silvermoon. She has remained largely unentangled in the Horde/Alliance conflict, and is willing to deal with Alliance races in those rare instances the situation demands it. She holds some contempt for the remaining Alliance high elves due to what she views as their complacency and willful helplessness, but she would be willing to put these emotions aside should she ever have renewed dealings with them. Among Sahnria's potential allies are also the Horde races typically considered anathema by blood elves. In her eyes, an orc is as useful a comrade as an elf, and therefore equal. Sahnria is not forthcoming concerning her political malleability, knowing that most groups confer higher status upon those individuals whose exclusive loyalty they believe to possess. Background Child of the Quel'dorei Sahnria was born in the elvish town of Tranquillien in Quel'Thalas, during the war between Lordaeron and the orcish Horde. Her early childhood was peaceful, however, as these conflicts remained remote. Her parents, priests dispatched from Silvermoon to watch over and minister to the townsfolk, informally instructed her in the discipline of the priesthood. She showed an aptitude for the healing arts, and her father Valkar made certain that she had access to all the magical resources and equipment available. She grew into adolescence as a sort of unofficial assistant to her parents, enjoying the prestige and social status that came with being a healer. Through her parents' coterie of friends she met twelve-year-old Gawain Dawnstar, son of the famed Silvermoon knight Gavin Dawnstar. Gawain, who had been trained from early childhood by his father to follow as a knight-adept of Silvermoon, was the only other child she had met who seemed to understand her position, rather than treating her with the customary reverence. The two met often outside of their lessons, Sahnria trading her arcane secrets for his advice on how to outmaneuver an opponent in combat. When Sahnria was fourteen, the first rumors of the Plague of Undeath began to spread from Lordaeron. Her parents heard from other Silvermoon priests of the ghastly disease which even the strongest powers of the Light could barely impede. In secret, Valkar and Astrixa prepared to leave Quel'Thalas, should the Plague threaten to approach. Gawain was also aware of the dire reports of the Plague, though he, like Sahnria, had been asked to tell no one else in order to avoid inciting panic. The day Sahnria hoped would never come arrived sooner than anyone could have imagined, as the dread Arthas and his legion of unliving horrors began their march toward Silvermoon. While her parents hastened to escape Tranquillien before Arthas arrived, she slipped away to the dwelling of Gavin and Gawain Dawnstar, hoping to see her friend a final time before departing. When she reached Gawain, however, he told her that he intended to stay with his father-- to vanish into the forest and do what he could to impede the Scourge's march across Quel'Thalas. Sahnria implored him to save himself, but Gawain was adamant: his duty to his homeland left him no choice but to defend it to the death. Inwardly distraught, Sahnria returned to her parents, and together they fled through the forest to the Isle of Quel'Danas, where they, along with a few other families of the priesthood, set sail for the remote human kingdom of Azeroth and it's capital of New Stormwind. The elvish refugees were accepted sympathetically by the populace, and Sahnria's parents set about ingratiating themselves to the Stormwind gentry by offering their services as healers. Gradually, reports of the unfolding holocaust of Lordaeron and Quel'Thalas reached Stormwind: the once-mighty nation of Lordaeron lay in ruin, dominated by hordes of wandering undead. Quel'thalas had been similarly devastated, its forests burned to the ground. Though occasional convoys of Thalassian survivors still arrived, Sahnria knew, as if informed by the Light, that Gawain had been killed. As time wore on, the new elvish citizens of Stormwind sank lower and lower. Without the mysterious and imposing edifice of Silvermoon behind them, they were mere curiosities, pitied by those they lived among. Following the destruction of the Sunwell, their grip on their individual magical abilities had begun to slip. A strange and awful malaise overtook them, one Sahnria felt more acutely than most youths, having been coached as a magical adept all her young life. Sahnria lived in a state of barely suppressed misery and loneliness, passively shunned by her human peers who found her temperament strange. Little changed until, three years later, a new and strange rumor reached Stormwind. Across the endless gulfs of the Twisting Nether, on the remnants of the red world Draenor, an embryonic elvish society had reconstituted itself-- a society that fed its hunger for magic with forbidden fel energies, and-- as Sahnria saw it-- refused to be helplessly beggared by the tragic destruction of the Sunwell. These elves, Sahnria was told, had adopted new customs that wiped away millennia-old traditions, and given themselves a new name: the blood elves. Though the remaining quel'dorei cursed the blood elves for their blasphemous disregard of the taboos against fel magic, Sahnria knew that she was more like these new blood elves than she was her passive, devout countrymen. She knew that she had to join the blood elves while she still could. Apostle of the Sun King Sahnria drew her plans quickly. She knew that, in this matter, her parents were beyond reason: they would oppose her decision no matter what. Furtively, she gathered her essentials-- bread, water, and magical apparatus. She bought and packed an inexpensive robe-- red, the color of the sin'dorei banner. Sahnria informed her parents that she was leaving to seek the new elvish nation as matter-of-factly as she could. Valkar protested that use of fel magic was inherently unsafe-- that it was communion with demons that had led to the destruction of Quel'thalas, and all the other arguments that Sahnria had heard in the previous weeks. She did not attempt to counter them. She said that her decision was made-- that she was only informing them of it. "She'll be back soon enough," were the last words she heard her father say as she left the dwelling. Sahnria traveled to Goldshire where she a gang of mercenaries led by the sorcerer Alexander Calder. Using her charm, she convinced the human to allow her to accompany him on his journey to the settlement of Nethergarde Keep. Sahnria had heard of Nethergarde before-- a well-fortified but desolate station manned by the remnants of the Kirin Tor. Its purpose: to monitor the Dark Portal, the one doorway between Azeroth and Outland. The mercenary band traveled quickly, sharing tales along the way. Sahnria spoke at length with them, but she never revealed her true purpose. At Nethergarde, Sahnria separated from Calder and his band and traveled south to the Portal. She traveled swiftly to avoid the demons that congregated and passed without hesitating through the Portal's membrane. Abruptly, she found herself standing in Hellfire Peninsula, the Nether stretching across the sky above her. The cool wash of magical energy was immediately detectable on her skin. Unsure what to do, she moved as quickly as she could across the terrain, avoiding the demons and fel orcs and hoping to come across a sin'dorei settlement by chance. While huddling behind a ridge and waiting for a pack of demons to pass, Sahnria was accosted by an elf-- an elf with green eyes and fine red robes. He identified himself as Icarius Flamechaser and demanded to know what she was doing. It quickly dawned on Sahnria that he had mistaken her for a blood elf-- on of his kinsmen. After a moment's calculation she decided to reveal the truth: that she was not a true blood elf, but a high elven pilgrim from the kingdom of Stormwind. Icarius appraised her for a moment and asked her to follow him. He was a courier for someone named Illidan, delivering a missive to what Sahnria gathered was an all-blood-elf settlement. As they traveled, Sahnria spoke of the listlessness of the Thalassian refugees, drawing further details from Icarius as to the situation of the elves in Outland. The elves, Icarius said, were rallying under the banner of the hereditary king of Silvermoon, Kael'thas Sunstrider, and had already begun to renew their blighted homeland. Soon they arrived at Eclipse Point, a half-ruined town suffused by a burning red glow of mana-infusion. Levitating crystals radiated magical energy so strong that Sahnria could feel it crackling against her skin. Despite her natural wariness, she found herself getting caught up in the idea of this new life-- a life free of hesitation, where it was acceptable to simply take what was needed. Sahnria was introduced to Grand Commander Ruusk, the lord of Eclipse Point, and Ruusk questioned her extensively on her past and her roots in Quel'Thalas. Sahnria could see the suspicion in his eyes-- the fledgling blood elves must much fear infiltration, she guessed-- but soon she was able to set his suspicion at rest. Ruusk had her presented with a red Eclipsion robe, a new stave, and an Illidari tabard. That night, Sahnria slept calmly, but there was still part of her that was wary, that wanted to know more of this Kael'thas Sunstrider and his plans. As the weeks passed, Sahnria found herself being intermittently called upon to accompany expeditions across the scarred world of Outland. Supporting fighters as they skirmished with demons and the native draenei was altogether different from ministering to elves injured while hunting or traveling. Try as she did to remain prudently detached from the passions of the blood elves, she found herself changed by Outland's plentiful magical energies. She experienced a new vitality, a new, vivid vision of the future. Her powers of healing were surer than ever, soon surpassing even those of her father. On what rare occasions Icarius allowed her to borrow his mirror, she found her face subtly changing, her eyes each time greener than the last. Sahnria was a spectator to the expansion of the blood elves across Outland. She saw many draenei outposts taken and hung with the banner of Illidan. It seemed that the Illidari truly were the masters of this strange land. But, as ever, something in Sahnria remained cautious. It was almost a year after her defection that Sahnria first encountered Kael'thas Sunstrider, the Sun King, in the flesh. Kael'thas had traveled to Eclipse Point to make an announcement of special import. Kael'thas, his eyes burning with an intense green fire, addressed a full assembly of the Eclipsion: "My loyal subjects, I bring you great and unexpected news from Quel'Thalas. With the aid of my appointed regent Lor'themar Theron, a new pact has been forged with the orcish Horde." "What!" someone yelled. "My friends, I beg you lay aside your old hatreds for a moment. Is our true enemy not the Scourge? Is our true enemy not the circumstance that has stolen our homeland and our power? The Horde is composed of savage races, yes!" The protesting increased. "Yes! But this is not the Alliance of old. We will not share our homeland with them, but to allow them to guard its borders. Just thing! The bloodlust of the orcs... The cunning of the trolls and their poisons... They are a powerful new tool in our hands." The crowd was once more silent. "And hear this: soon, one day soon, a new exodus will begin. You will wrap up your bedrolls and spread them out again on Thalassian soil. The reclamation of our land begins, and soon you will be able to call it home once more." The cheering rose to a fever pitch. Kael'thas raised his hands and the elves rose and swarmed out across Eclipse Point, dancing and screaming praise for the Sun King. And Sahnria cheered, but inside a warning sounded urgently, as if the Light itself was informing her of some approaching invisible danger. Perhaps there was something to that-- Sahnria was one of the flew Illidari elves who retained full control over the Light. The second and final time Sahnria encountered the Sun King was some months later. The draenei had successfully reclaimed their city of Shattrath, and Kael'thas had dispatched thirty of his most adept legions, headed by the warrior-mystic Voren'thal, to drive the draenei back out of Shattrath and raze the city forever. A devastating victory was predicted-- the battle of Shattrath was to be the hammer-blow that would shatter the draenei coalition forever. In the days following the battle, however, there were no reports of victory, or even of defeat-- just dead silence. Sahnria learned the truth from Icarius: the army, rather than attack, had stood back while Voren'thal demanded to meet the naaru A'dal which dwelt within Shattrath. "I've seen you in a vision, naaru," Voren'thal had declared. "My race's only hope for survival lies with you. My followers and I are here to serve you." This was forbidden knowledge, Icarius warned. Sahnria spoke of it to no one, and though she heard no further word of Voren'thal's defection, she saw a growing realization and a sick fear growing in those around her. The following week, Kael'thas visited Eclipse Point once more. He gathered the Eclipsion together and paced back and forth between them, ranting as if to himself. "Voren'thal wants to ally himself with the draenei? Voren'thal wants to ally himself with a people who worship rocks? A people who worship trees? The blind fool picks a strange way to commit suicide..." Kael'thas stared into space for a moment. "But you needn't fear, my loyal warriors! Your revenge will be fulfilled! We will fling open the gates of Shattrath and kill until we stand ankle-deep in the blood of traitors!" He cried out as if he had been run through with a white-hot lance. "This world will abide by us!" No one in the crowd moved or made a sound. From then on, life at Eclipse Point changed. Illidan's terrible Nathrezim were constantly present in the settlement, and the elves were controlled by a vague but powerful fear. No one spoke of the ordeal with Voren'thal. Occasionally an elf would be summoned to Illidan's Black Temple without word of explanation and never return. And as the weeks progressed, it became clear that no attack on Shattrath was actually planned; Voren'thal had robbed Kael'thas of too many of his best soldiers for the conquest of Shattrath to ever be a possibility again. As Sahnria ate her rations in silence, under the watchful eyes of the Nathrezim, she knew that she had to escape. She did not consider open flight an option. The Illidari monitored all the roads of the valley, and going renegade would make her an enemy to the Horde as well as to the Alliance. Rather, in silence, she waited, visiting Grand Commander Ruusk frequently and chatting with him, hoping that this association would spawn some opportunity to remove herself from Eclipse Point. It was the better part of a year and many hazardous battles later that this seed germinated. Kael'thas was dispatching a selection of his finest and most eloquent magisters, scholars, and diplomats to the partially restored city of Silvermoon to deliver a message of the strength and determination of the elves of Outland. Grand Magister Rommath, Kael's mightiest remaining mage, was chosen to head the group. Rommath traveled from settlement to settlement, taking the elves who seemed most loyal to the Illidari. The evening before Rommath was expected to visit Eclipse Point, Sahnria made an appeal to the Grand Commander. "It has been many years since I have seen my home," she told him. "A chance to see them with my new eyes, after all these years... it would be the dearest gift anyone could give to me." "It has been many years since any of us have seen our homeland," replied Ruusk. "True. And I understand fully if I cannot be chosen. But I would be dishonest if I did not tell you now that to aid in the restoration of Quel'Thalas and to spread word of our new kingdom in Outland is the highest hope I can imagine." Ruusk nodded slowly. "I will see what can be done, but the final judgment belongs to Rommath." Sahnria did not see Rommath arrive the following day, but that evening she was called, along with six other Eclipsion, to Ruusk's dwelling. Sahnria was, as she had expected, selected to return to Azeroth as an ambassador of the Illidari. She traveled, along with three hundred others, back across Hellfire Peninsula and to the Dark Portal. Rommath was a quiet figure, but he spoke forcefully. As they stood before the portal, which was now garrisoned by cooperating Horde and Alliance forces, he told them of the significance of their task: they must impress upon the Azerothian elves the prosperity, power, and glory awaiting them in Outland, under Kael'thas's command. Any lurid descriptions of difficulties might undermine their efforts and weaken the blood elf nation. Only positive impressions were to be conferred. Sahnria nodded along with the rest. They marched back through the Dark Portal. As Sahnria left Outland, she felt the swarming magical electricity of the place dissipate from her skin. The other elves shuddered, remembering the magical hunger they'd suffered in Azeroth. But Sahnria allowed herself a smile: for the first time in years, she felt free. Rommath marched the elves to Stonard, where they were free to travel as they wished. Nethergarde Keep was off-limits. Their former allies, Rommath reminded them acidly, would now exterminate them on sight. Priestess of Silvermoon In the following months, Sahnria adjusted to an altogether new way of life. It had not just been Kael'thas's propaganda-- the elves really had reasserted themselves in Quel'Thalas. Undead still marauded the forests, but most of the townships, from Tranquillien to Silvermoon City itself, were theirs again. Bringing the gold she'd earned in Outland with her, she flew to Silvermoon. The reborn city was truly a grand sight, perhaps even moreso than it had been in her childhood. But still Sahnria felt tainted and uncomfortable in her Eclipsion livery. She went to the bazaar and hastily selected an elegant yellow robe, then slipped down a shadowy, grottoed alley and checked into the Silvermoon City Inn. She stripped off her Illidari raiment and changed into the new robe. It was eye-catching-- ostentatious, even. But she felt comfortably anonymous in it, a garment without an insignia stamped across the chest. She was no longer Sahnria of the Illidari. She no longer wished to be a soldier for anyone. Sahnria took to aiding Silvermoon adventurers, offering them healing in return for a healthy portion of the spoils. She maintained many business relationships, but there was no one she felt close to, or even considered a friend in more than the formal sense. To alleviate her loneliness, she bought a cat which she named Thistle and kept in her room at the Silvermoon City Inn. The world had changed since she left it at seventeen. The Horde offered a new freedom. They now controlled much of the world, including entire regions of the lost continent of Kalimdor. The old ways had indeed been swept aside by the sin'dorei. Fel magistry, once a capital offense, was practiced more-or-less openly in Silvermoon. Their new allies, the Forsaken, were perhaps even more disinhibited and pragmatic. National and racial passions ran high in the Horde-- fury against the Scourge, against the Alliance that had failed to defend them, tension between the orcs and the elves for perceived indiscretions. From time to time, Sahnria was tempted to become swept up in these great currents of passion, but in these instances the image of the fiery Kael'thas and his fanatical Eclipsion warriors passed before her eyes, and her temper was cooled. Sahnria, enlivened by her new independence, behaved more extrovertedly and honed her social abilities. She was able to demand greater percentages of loot than many veteran priests simply because of her natural charm. Currently, Sahnria travels frequently. She travels among all factions without favoritism or prejudice, searching for advantage in friendship with many factional leaders. She maintains a room at the Silvermoon City Inn, but the world is her home. Links Sahnria@Armory Category:Blood Elf Category:Horde Priest Category:Enchanter Category:Tailor Category:Horde